Apparatus for cleaning and polishing hats.



PATBNTED 0GT.15, 1907.

'P. Boss0. APPARATUS FON CLEANING AND POLISHING HATS.

APPLIUATION FILED APRA, 1907.

NI'IED STATES PAUL BOSSO, OF SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR CLEANING AND POLISHING- HATS.

Speeieation of Letters Patent.

Patented Oet. 15, 1907.

Application filed April 1,1907. Serial No. 365,776.

To all 'whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, PAUL Bosse, a citizen of the United States, residing at Scranton, in the county of Lackawanna and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Cleaning and Polishing Hats; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

"his invention relates to improvements in apparatus for cleaning, finishing, ironing and performing similar operations on hats, and particularly to holders for grasping hats during the cleaning operations, and comprises the production of means for grasping the sweatband of a hat, and a disk formed with cam slots for operating said means, and improved means for rotating the disk.

The invention further comprises the production of improved means connecting the apparatus to a power shaft.

The obj ect in view is the production of a holder that is quickly and easily applied to a power shaft.

Another object in view is the production of a segmental rack on a revolving cam disk and a hand operated gear meshing with the rack for operating the cam plate.

With these and other objects in view, the invention comprises certain constructions, combinations, and arrangements of parts as will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing: Figure l is a plan View of a holder formed according to the present invention with the spring removed. Fig. 2 is an edge view of Fig. I. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section through a holder formed according to the present invention. Fig. 4 is a detail fragmentary side elevation of a slightly modified form of a gripping and guiding member.

In constructing a holder according to the present invention, I provide a base plate l, having radial arms which have formed therein guideways for accommodating reciprocating arms or members 2 2 and 3 3 which are adapted to have their outer ends project beyond gripping members 4 4 and 5 5. The gripping inembers 4 4 and 5 5 may be of any desired shape, but I preferably provide arc shaped members of any desired material as, for instance, wood. The use of wood is usually preferable as the same is comparatively light. The members 4 4 and 5 5 are made preferably arc shaped in order to more easily fit the sweatband of a hat, and give a substantial contact surface. Members 4-4 and 5 5 are secured in position by any suitable securing means as screws 6 6 and 7 7.

Near the inner end of the slides or reciprocating members 2 2 and 3 3 are positioned pins or lugs 9 9 and lO-lO respectively, which may be formed integral With the slides or simply rigidly secured thereto in any convenient way. The pins 9 9 and 10-10 are designed to be reciprocated and to in turn reciprocate slides 2 2 and 3 3 by operating in tangential cam slots Il ll and I2 I2 of plate I3. When plate 13 is rotated it will be perfectly evident that pins 9 9 and 10-10 will be reciprocated thereby and will consequently force outward or inward sliding members 2 2 and 3 3 and consequently force inward or outward gripping members 4 4 and 5 5. By this structure gripping members 4 4 and 5 5 may be arranged to grasp the sweatband of different sized hats without any change in the mechanism of the holder. Plate 13 is loosely mounted upon a stem or shaft 14 so as to freely rotate about the same. Plate 13 is adapted to bear on one side against base plate l and on the other side against a collar 13/ which is firmly secured in position upon stem or shaft I4 by any desired means as set screw Stem or shaft 14 is made solid at -one end as at l5 and hollow at the other end at I6. End I5 is preferably reduced in size and threaded at I7 for firmly securing the same in base plate l. A suitable nut 18 is designed to bind the same in position. The end 16 is hollowed out and slotted any desired number of times as at I9 so as t0 permit contraction and expansion for gripping a power shaft.

Secured to the base l, by nut I8 is a spring 29 that is preferably cylindrical in shape as clearly seen in Fig. 3 of the drawing and is designed to press against the top of the hat being cleaned. The conical shaped spring, shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, is more particularly designed for holding the top of straw hats in correct position during the cleaning operation, but may be used on other forms of hats, although I may, if desired, make a spring that will be rounded or somewhat conical shaped on top so as to fit the various rounded shaped hats, as, for instance, derbys and the like. By this construction the top of the hat is held in proper shape and the side or rim is held in proper shape by grippers 4 4 and 5 5, and arms 3.

Referring more particularly to Fig. 4, will be seen a slightly modified form of gripping members as 4/, and arm 24 The arm 2/ is formed with an auxiliary ann 30 that is positioned at right angles to the main arm 2/ and has formed on the outer end thereof another arm or eX- tension 3l that may be of any desired length. In this construction a comparatively wide surface (arm 30 and gripping member 4f) is provided against which the sweatband is designed to rest during the cleaning operation, and a stop 31 is provided for preventing any accidental removal or displacement of the hat.

A nut or gripping member 2O is provided for contracting portion 16 and in order to accomplish this it is beveled and threaded internally with threads that are designed to engage threads 2l. As nut 20 is forced down over threads 2l, the hollowed out portion 16 is contracted, which contraction is permitted by means of the slots l9 which may be of any desired number, but for the purpose of illustration I have sim-ply disclosed three. Formed on the periphery of plate or disk l3 is a segmental gear or rack 22 which is designed to engage a gear 23 which has preferably formed integral therewith a handle wheel 24. Gear 23 is journaled upon shalt 25 which is rigidly secured to one of the radiatingr arms of base l in any convenient way andl is provided at its upper' end with threads 26 for engaging nut 27 which in turn holds wheel 24 inl proper position for permitting gear 23 to engage rack 221 When it is desired to move contact or friction members4-4 and 5 5 wheel 24 is rotatedv which in turn actingthrough gear 23` rotates plate 13 which has formed therein cam slots ll ll and l2 l2 for acting upon pins 9 91andl0` ]10 i or reciprocating slides 2 2 and 3 37Whiclu carry mem bers 4 4 and. 5 5. By this construction members 4 4 and 5- 5 may be moved 'inward and outward quickly and easily and be correctly adjusted in the least possible time. I have simply shown four reciprocating members as 2 2 and 3 3 but it will be evident that any desired number may be used. I have 3 3 so as to more properly fit the ordinary hat, but if desired, all the reciprocating members may be made ot the same length all within the spirit ot the present invention.

In constructing a holder according to the present irrv vention, I preferably provide the same with anenlarged portion 28 either formed integral or rigidly secured toi the-hatto be forced too far over upon the holder. 'The v. brimI of the hat com-ing;l in contact With these stops will cause the sweatband to come opposite the gripping members 4 4 and 5 5- and thus present a comparatively strong gripping surface.

HavingA thus fully described my invention., what I 1. A device of.the character described, comprising an expansible hat holder, means formed with a rack for expending the sama, andr a gear meshing with said rack for operating said means.

2'. A device of the character described', comprising an expansible hat holder, a plate formed with cam slots thereinA and a rack on theY periphery ther-co1; and a: gear wheel meshing with said rack for rotating said cam plate.

3. A device of the character described, comprising reciprocating members, a cam plate formed with a rack on the periphery thereof, saidcam pla-te being adapted to operate said reciprocating, im-nnbers When said plate is rorated, a gear wheel meshing with said. rack for rotating said plate, and a hand wheel for rotating said gear wheel. 4. A device of' the character described', comprising an zexpansibl'e hat holder, a plate for expanding said hat holder, a rack positioned onsaidy plate, and a gear Wheel also shown members 2 2 asbeing longer than membersv meshmg wml smd' rack for rotating Sad plata 5. A device of the character described, comprising an expansible hat holder, means for operating the same, an expansibl'e stemy secured toy said holder, said stem being formed with threads on the periphery thereof, and a nut `formed. with a conical shaped aperture engaging `said threads for contracting said expansible members.

G. A device of the character described comprisingI an expansible hat holder, means for expanding the same, and a conical-shaped spring for holding the crown; of the hat placed upon the holder in. proper position.

7. A device of the character described comprising a hat holder, means for adjusting the position thereof, and a l spring for contacting with the crown of the hat positioned thereon for holding; said crown in proper shape during the operation of the holder.

lntestimony whereof I aftix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

PAUL BOSSO.

Witnesses W. W. BAYLon, J. M'. SHEFFIELD.

s claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent i'si- 

